Oregon Statute of Limitations 2026: Deadlines, Notice and Exceptions
Oregon gives most injury claims 2 years. The two rules that surprise people sit beside it. A claim against a city, a county, TriMet or the state needs written notice within 180 days. And a child does not get until adulthood: the pause for minors is capped. Here is every Oregon deadline by type of claim, read from the Oregon Revised Statutes.
Every Oregon deadline, by type of claim
The period that applies depends on what the claim is, not on how the person was hurt. One crash can produce an injury claim, a claim for the damaged car and, if the other vehicle was a city bus, a claim against the government, and each of them can run on its own clock.
| Claim | Deadline | When the clock starts | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injury and death | |||
| Personal injuryThe same section covers assault, battery and false imprisonment. | 2 years | From the injury, or from when the person knew or should have known of it. Oregon courts read a discovery rule into this section. | ORS 12.110(1) |
| Wrongful deathAny repose period that applies to the underlying act, such as five years for malpractice, cuts it shorter. | 3 years | From when the injury that caused the death was discovered or should have been, but never later than three years after the death. | ORS 30.020(1) |
| Medical malpracticeFive years after the treatment, every claim is barred, children included. Fraud or misleading statements that kept the claim from being filed reopen two years from their discovery. | 2 years, 5 at the outside | From when the injury was first discovered or should have been. | ORS 12.110(4) |
| Injury from a defective productThe outer limit is ten years from the first purchase, or the repose period of the state where the product was made if that is longer. A death caused by a product has three years under § 30.905(3). | 2 years, 10 at the outside | From when the person discovered, or should have, both the injury and its connection to the product. | ORS 30.905(1), (2) |
| Negligence, the outer limitA ceiling, not a filing period: it never lengthens the two years. | 10 years at the outside | From the act or omission complained of, whenever the harm was found. | ORS 12.115(1) |
| Libel and slanderThe shortest civil filing period in the chapter. | 1 year | From the day the claim accrues, which for defamation is generally the publication. | ORS 12.120(2) |
| Child abuse, including sexual abuseAlso reaches anyone who knowingly allowed the abuse. | Until age 40, or 5 years from discovery | Before the survivor turns 40, or within five years of discovering the link between the abuse and the injury, whichever is later. | ORS 12.117(1) |
| Property | |||
| Damage to real propertyWaste, trespass and interference with land. Construction defects run on their own section. | 6 years | From the damage. | ORS 12.080(3) |
| Damage to or taking of personal propertyThis is the clock for the car in a crash, three times as long as the clock for the people in it. | 6 years | From the damage or the taking. | ORS 12.080(4) |
| Contracts and money | |||
| Contract, written or oralThe statute says express or implied, so Oregon has no separate period for oral agreements. | 6 years | From the breach. | ORS 12.080(1) |
| Fraud | 2 years | From the discovery of the fraud, which the statute says in so many words. | ORS 12.110(1) |
| Sale of goods and warrantiesA contract can shorten this to one year but never lengthen it. | 4 years | From the breach, which for a warranty is delivery, whether or not the buyer knew. | ORS 72.7250 |
| Claims against the government | |||
| Notice of a claim against a public bodyThis is a notice deadline, not the deadline to sue. Up to 90 days do not count while the injured person cannot give notice because of the injury, age or incapacity. | 180 days to give notice | Within 180 days of the loss or injury, in writing to the right office, or by actual notice the public body received. | ORS 30.275(2)(b) |
| Notice of a wrongful death claim against a public body | 1 year to give notice | Within one year of the loss or injury. | ORS 30.275(2)(a) |
| Lawsuit against a public bodyTwo years even for wrongful death, which against a private defendant would have three. | 2 years | From the loss or injury, notwithstanding the rest of Chapter 12. | ORS 30.275(9) |
| Other | |||
| Any claim not otherwise provided forThe catch-all at the end of the chapter. | 10 years | From the day the claim accrues. | ORS 12.140 |
The Oregon Legislature, Oregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 12 and the other statutes cited in each row, read on October 5, 2026. Each citation links to the official text.
Oregon filing deadlines, shortest first, in years
In Oregon, a child's extra time runs out before adulthood
Most states stop the clock until an injured child turns 18 and then start the ordinary period. Oregon stops it too, but only for so long. Under ORS 12.160(1), (2), the pause can add no more than five years, and can never run more than one year past the 18th birthday.
The arithmetic is unforgiving for young children. A child hurt at five gets five years of pause and then the ordinary two years, so the claim ends at about twelve. A family that waits for the child to grow up and decide has, in most cases, already lost the claim.
Medical malpractice is stricter still. The five-year limit in ORS 12.110(4) applies "notwithstanding" the rule for minors, so a birth injury discovered at age six is usually already past it.
One Oregon crash can run on three clocks
A collision with a city vehicle shows how far apart the deadlines in one event can be.
180 days for the notice. Under ORS 30.275(2)(b), the public body has to receive written notice of the claim, or actual notice of it, within that time. The lawsuit itself then has 2 years, under ORS 30.275(9), and that two years applies even to a death, which against a private driver would have 3 years.
2 years for the people hurt. The injury claims run on ORS 12.110(1), whoever the other driver was.
6 years for the car. Damage to personal property runs on ORS 12.080(4), three times as long as the injury claim. That gap is why a settled property damage claim tells a person nothing about whether the injury claim is still open.
When the clock stops, and when it does not
A limitations period can be paused, which lawyers call tolling, or can start late. Both are exceptions, and a reader should assume neither applies until someone has checked.
Children, and the five-year cap
The clock is paused while the injured person is under 18, but the pause can add no more than five years, and no more than one year after the 18th birthday, whichever comes first. A child hurt at five does not have until adulthood: five years of pause and two years of running time end the claim at about twelve. A parent's claim for the child's medical bills is paused for the same time. ORS 12.160(1), (2).
A disabling mental condition
If the person cannot understand their rights when the claim accrues, the clock is paused for as long as that lasts, under the same cap: no more than five years, and no more than one year after the condition ends. ORS 12.160(3), (4).
The discovery rule, which the courts read into the statute
Oregon applies a discovery rule to the general two-year period, so the clock starts when a reasonable person would have known of the harm, its cause and that someone was at fault. It does not protect someone who knew enough to ask and did not. The malpractice and product sections write the same idea into the statute. Doe v. American Red Cross, 322 Or 502 (1996).
Fraud and concealment in malpractice
The five-year limit on malpractice gives way only when fraud, deceit or a misleading statement is the reason nothing was filed. Then the claim has two years from when that was discovered or should have been. ORS 12.110(4).
Against the government, the deadline is a different one
Suing a public body runs on its own statute. In Oregon that means 180 days to give notice, under ORS 30.275(2)(b). Within 180 days of the loss or injury, in writing to the right office, or by actual notice the public body received.
This is a notice deadline, not the deadline to sue. Up to 90 days do not count while the injured person cannot give notice because of the injury, age or incapacity.
It matters more often than people expect. A pothole, a city bus, a fall on public property, a crash with a police car or a sanitation truck all put the claim on this clock, and the first deadline in it is a notice, not a lawsuit, so it can pass before anyone thinks to call a lawyer.
Who handles these cases in Oregon
Most injury cases are taken on contingency, so the first conversation costs nothing, and it is the place to ask which deadline applies to the facts.
This directory holds 14 verified injury firms in Oregon, each scored on what it publishes and what can be checked about it. The highest-scoring today is Johnson Law, P.C. in Portland, at 70. That is a computed position, not an endorsement, and the method is published.
Ranked lists by market: Portland injury firms.
Further reading from firms in this directory
We read these while writing this guide and checked what they say against the statute. Each is written by an Oregon firm about its own state's deadline, and each adds something the table above cannot, which is a practitioner's view of how the rule plays out in a real case.
- Oregon Personal Injury Statute of Limitations, from Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys PC in Portland. A Portland trial firm on how the two-year rule meets real cases, with the malpractice and product repose limits, the Tort Claims Act notice, and why insurers watch the calendar as closely as the lawyers do.
Questions people ask about the Oregon statute of limitations
What is the statute of limitations for personal injury in Oregon?
Two years, under ORS 12.110(1). Oregon courts start the clock when the injured person knew or should have known of the injury and its cause, which for a crash or a fall is almost always the day it happened.
How long do you have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Oregon?
Three years from when the injury that caused the death was discovered, and never later than three years after the death, under ORS 30.020. Against a public body it is two years, with notice due within one year.
What is the deadline for medical malpractice in Oregon?
Two years from when the injury was discovered or should have been, under ORS 12.110(4), and no later than five years after the treatment. The five years apply to children too.
Does the statute of limitations stop for a minor in Oregon?
Only partly. ORS 12.160 pauses the clock while a person is under 18, but the pause cannot add more than five years, or run more than one year past the 18th birthday.
How long do you have to sue a city or the state of Oregon?
Notice of the claim is due within 180 days of the injury, or one year for a death, under ORS 30.275, and the lawsuit itself within two years. Missing the notice can end the claim before the lawsuit deadline matters.
Where this comes from
Every period on this page was read from the official text published by The Oregon Legislature on October 5, 2026, and each row links to the section it comes from. The Legislature's own server could not be reached while this guide was written, so the sections were read through oregon.public.law, which reproduces the Legislature's text section by section, with a second copy on FindLaw as a check, and every row links to the official chapter. Where the rule is made by courts rather than written in a statute, the page says so and names the case. Nothing here is drawn from a secondary summary.
Statutes change. When a legislature amends one of these periods, this page changes with the research file it is built from, and the date at the top moves. Firm counts and scores are computed from this directory each time the page is built.
This is not legal advice and no lawyer-client relationship comes from reading it. Whether a particular claim is still inside its deadline depends on facts this page cannot see.